Flooding seen across Texas

Up to 9 inches of rain, twisters batter the state.

Members of Fort Worth’s Swift Water Rescue Team check on vehicles that were left stalled on the city’s Trinity Boulevard.

Photo By Dallas Morning News/Tom Fox

Flooded out cars sit in high water in Fort Worth. Rainstorms and strong winds across parts of Texas have left thousands of people without electricity and facing the threat of worse conditions.

HOUSTON — The squall of storms that swept Texas on Wednesday moved from north to south, first pounding Dallas and Fort Worth overnight. At dawn, rescue workers were able to peek into car windows to make sure people weren't stuck in vehicles stranded in windshield-high water.

As the storms inched south and settled over Central Texas and Austin, record amounts of rain — more than 5 inches in some areas of the capital — drenched areas that just a few months ago battled the most devastating wildfires the state has ever seen.

By midday in Houston, some roads and freeways were flooded, and the Houston Independent School District canceled all afterschool activities.

By Wednesday morning, weather was so severe east of Austin that the Bastrop Independent School District closed schools for the day, just months after consoling students who had lost their homes and belongings in drought-sparked wildfires.

At least one tornado touched down in northeast Austin, damaging an industrial park and a few homes, but causing no injuries, said Chris Morris, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in New Braunfels.

Another apparent tornado damaged a tire shop in Somerville, and the third was spotted in Waller County.

The National Weather Service also will have to survey damage to confirm whether a tornado or straight-line winds toppled trees and power lines, damaged businesses, blew out windows, flattened barns and ruined rooftops throughout Washington County and downtown Brenham, about 60 miles northwest of Houston. No one was injured.

In total, the National Weather Service was investigating at least half a dozen suspected tornadoes statewide.